Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
The 1918 "Spanish Flu" outbreak happened in the winter of 1918-19, after the end of the war. It had nothing to do with WWI.
You can't overestimate the seriousness of it. It killed more people than WWI did.
The vaccine for Swine Flu is being developed in the same way, in the same laboratories, that create vaccines for the seasonal winter flu outbreaks. There is nothing "different" about it. It is not a "cure"; it is a vaccine.
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Not true. The virus did, in fact, have its role within WWI. (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3455873.stm) Not only that, but the first "reported" cases of the flu (we must keep in mind the relatively archaic medical standards at the time) appeared in May of 1918, which is a good 8 months before the end of WWI.
Re: "cure", I was using double quotes because I have heard several source refer to it as a "cure", and this is merely a reflection of how the fear of the flu can cause people to react. Obviously you cannot create a vaccine against the flu.
To put this into context, have a look at this great article, which raised some good questions in terms of "who's profiting here".
http://shoutwire.com/ecomments/full/...s_Don_t_Add_up
And yes, the 1918 flu was extremely devastating, but keep in mind that this was 1918. At the moment we are on the verge of offering (Some governments are mandating that they must be taken) a highly experimental vaccine, for an overhyped flu strain that is quite likely going to do more damage than good. It's quite likely that the side effects of the vaccine will kill or injure more people than the actual virus will do, on account of its very low mortality rate (far lower than the 30,000 average deaths in the US alone each year from flu-related complications).
Combine that with the fact that most of the news reports I've seen are "A patient died today, he also had swine flu", and then it turns out that the guy was extremely overweight and died of heart failure. In my eyes, I don't see it as justified. (
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1...ine-flu-in-Qld -- the first "healthy" man to die in Australia from the swine flu only died in August, so that puts it into perspective).
At this point in time, I just don't see any justification as to why we should use such an experimental vaccine that is very likely to do more harm than good.